Typical broadband optical sources generate an optical output having a relatively broad spectral bandwidth and are used in a wide range of varying applications. For example, broadband optical sources find use in spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, optical communication test and measurement, and other applications in which a broad spectrum light is required or otherwise desirable. Typical commercially available broadband optical sources are formed from an array of light emitting didoes (LEDs). In such devices, the optical output of each LED is combined using optical fiber or free-space optical components. Because the LED circuits are independent of each other and require additional alignment hardware, the overall size of a standard broadband optical source can be excessively large for some applications (e.g., a typical broadband optical source may have dimensions of tens of centimeters).
Photonic or optical integrated circuits combine multiple optical components to provide various optical functionality including, but not limited to, optical amplification, optical filtering, optical routing, and optical modulation. The optical components may include, for example, optical amplifiers, optical filters, lasers, optical detectors, and waveguides for routing optical signals. Photonic integrated circuits may be formed using a variety of materials. Recently, photonic integrated circuits have been formed in silicon. Such silicon-based photonic integrated circuits may be formed using traditional silicon fabrication techniques such as photolithography.